Water conservation efforts now targeting multifamily housing | Katonah NY Real Estate

The 2011 and 2012 droughts across much of the United States may be a harbinger of things to come, and “evidence is showing that many parts of the country may continue to experience moderate to severe drought in 2013 and possibly for several additional years,” the Denver-based American Water Works Association reported.

If that wasn’t scary enough, in December some 61.9 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate to exceptional drought conditions, up from 28.2 percent a year ago, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a daily survey produced by a group of academic and government organizations.

I would guess it’s time we all turned our attention to saving water at our places of residence, which I feel some of us — but not enough! — are already doing. However, the big flaw in trying to target the single-family homeowner is that so many of us live in multifamily dwellings, either apartments or condominiums.

When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its WaterSense program at the end of 2009 it focused on new single-family residences. After watching the program slowly taking root, on Jan. 1 the EPA launched a similar labeling guidance program for new multifamily buildings.